So the end is nigh. Due to extreme weather conditions we are face with a shortage of not only water, but Tarragon too…This country really is falling apart at the seams….

This week, apart from lamenting the great Tarragon shortage, I have been mostly decorating. I also managed to get a hot minute in the studio to add more music to my collaboration with Nashville singer extraordinaire ,”Terry Grant.”

I also managed to go and see Simple Minds perform 5×5, which, I must say, was really rather magnificent…So good to see a 53 year old man not just going through the motions, but actually pouring his heart and soul into some really fucking great music. And before all you haters out there shout “Simple Mind’s, are you mental,” do a little research, before you shout “All the Things she said.”

Mr postman also brought me this…

Since I last wrote I have been continuing my abstinence from online distraction. The longer I leave it the easier it gets. I feel like I am living in a world where I no longer know everything about everything. That came to light last week during the Stop on Line Piracy protests. I was delighted to find that Megaupload had been taken down, so delighted that I forwarded my delight to a friend who is very much still on Twitter. He told me that Twitter had been alight with masses of opinions by gazillions of people all varying in shapes and sizes. My first reaction was a breath of relief. Those are the Twitter and Facebook moments that I have grown to dread, and I am so glad to be away from it. My blood pressure is stable. Instead I have had discussions with like minded souls who are relatively on the same page, but who also have slight difference in opinions.  I was forwarded a couple of great articles alongside the Ben Watt/Robert Levine interview. Two of which you can read here

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/17/beyond_sopa/

http://freeloadingthebook.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/an-elegy-for-the-piracy-wars-on-the-occasion-of-the-sopapipa-blackouts/

Thanks to Ewan Pearson for sending me those.

In other news I have had my head buried in finishing Mother Rose.

And Freaks have signed a record to Hot Creations. More on that soon……

The world has spent their week shaking their walking sticks around, up in arms over the Stop On Line Piracy Act. Internet blackouts, hissy fits and all kinds of non communicative nonsense.

Those who know me, know my stance. I refuse to bend over and take it up the arse, as my Dad once said. I will fight till the death to defend my job and source of revenue. The hours I work and the money I invest to create something that hopefully some people will gain pleasure from will not be snatched from me for nothing. And music will most definitely not become my hobby.

This week Ben Watt from Buzzin’ Fly (an independent dance label,) interviewed Robert Levine, author of Free Ride, a book about piracy and “free” culture.

I am a huge fan of Levine’s intelligent stance on the whole aspect of piracy. Here is a quote from the interview :

“How well drafted is SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and what impact do you think it will have? 

That’s very hard to answer because it’s a complicated law that keeps changing almost daily. I think SOPA had some problems, some of which were solved before Christmas and almost all of which will be solved when the DNS-blocking provisions are blocked. At the same time, most of the objections were a little silly – enforcing copyright isn’t censorship, and I can’t see how keeping the current structure of the Internet the same way it was in 1995 is more important than a body of law that’s hundreds of years old. The truth is that most of SOPA’s opponents will object to anything that enforces copyright because they hate it on principle or their businesses depend on the intellectual property of others – mostly the latter. And it’s important to remember that many of the nonprofit organizations that came out against the bill receive some funding from Google. Again, to be clear, SOPA had problems. But it’s important to keep in mind that the goal of the other side isn’t to derail SOPA – it’s to prevent any kind of law or legal precedent that would protect creators rights. ”

And here is a direct link to the full interview. (Click on image)